


yearning

by noobishere



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, One-Sided Attraction, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 11:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3118577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noobishere/pseuds/noobishere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was nothing particularly amazing; after all, it was just a bunch of elementary kids awkwardly passing a ball to each other. Which was why Kindaichi got bored of watching the game and opted to watch the boy instead. He managed to squint the few feet separating them to the kid’s nametag: Akiyama Elementary: Kageyama Tobio. Kageyama had his fists clenched as he watched the ongoing game with stupidly wide starry eyes. Honestly, it was a bit pathetic, but he thought Kageyama looked funny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	yearning

**Author's Note:**

> was rewatching hq, and i went, literally, yoooooo kindaichi and kageyama tho. yeah.

It all started in elementary, on that weekend his school held an open sports day; he’s never seen that many people before; kids his age and middle schoolers alike (he learned a few years later that the middle schoolers were there to scout potential players) flocking around his school ground. At the other side of the field, even sitting among all those kids, the boy seemed so alone, and yet he looked excited as he watched the volleyball match that was going on. 

It was nothing particularly amazing; after all, it was just a bunch of elementary kids awkwardly passing a ball to each other. Which was why Kindaichi got bored of watching the game and opted to watch the boy instead. He managed to squint the few feet separating them to the kid’s nametag: _Akiyama Elementary: Kageyama Tobio_. Kageyama had his fists clenched as he watched the ongoing game with stupidly wide starry eyes. Honestly, it was a bit pathetic, but he thought Kageyama looked funny (re: cute, he realized, also a few years later).

That was that then, he’d thought, until he saw Kageyama again a few weeks, or was it months, later, on his way back home from school. Kageyama was, again, alone, but this time he had a ball with him, volleyball, and he was lobbing it on his arms. Kindaichi got oddly distracted watching the ball bouncing up, off Kageyama’s arms and up in the air; up and down, up and down, with the constant dull sound of the ball whenever it hit Kageyama’s arms. Before he knew it, the sky had turned a tinge of orange and he had spent the entire time creepily watching Kageyama practicing. He ran back home, scared that someone might have seen him creeping about.

Back then, Kindaichi was eight, and he was confused as to how he’d managed to get carried away just by watching (staring, really) Kageyama practice, or whatever he was doing at the time. He’d been even more confused when he applied for the volleyball club at his school the next year, but decided to stay and play because it’s actually kind of, really, really fun, especially when he gets to spike the ball. There was that one time he had slammed the ball so hard that he ended up with his palm swollen and he had to lay off spiking for a week.

Fast forward to his first year at Kitagawa Daiichi High school, at the gym with other new volleyball club members, there he was, still with the same big starry eyes as he introduced himself.

“I’m Kageyama Tobio from Akiyama Elementary. I’ve been playing volleyball since second grade. Nice to meet you.”

Kindaichi felt uneasy somehow. Damnit, this guy had been playing longer than him (he found out later that it was only by a few months, but still), he has a lot to catch up. He’d never lose to someone as pathetically excitable as Kageyama. That was what he told himself. But again, he found out much, much later that that was him feeling the first tug of attraction towards the boy.

Kageyama was nothing like how Kindaichi thought he’d be. He’d thought Kageyama would be a pleasant guy to be around with, what with those big puppy midnight blue eyes. Apparently, those (cute) expressions were only reserved for volleyball, and Kindaichi found out, sooner rather than later, that Kageyama was the most unpleasant, annoying, spoilt brat he’d had the misfortune to meet.

Mind you, he had noticed Kageyama since elementary, so it was only natural to walk up to him and introduce himself properly. He went with the intention of making friends with Kageyama but of course there’s a reason why fairytales are called fairytales (they aren’t real and they never will be) and instead of being all “Oh hey, nice to meet you. Let’s be friends,” like a normal person would, Kageyama simply stared at his outstretched hand and said “I know your name already,” before completely ignoring him and jogging over to the ball cart.

It was disappointing to say the least, and anti-climatic, especially after all those times Kindaichi had let himself indulge and envision how their first encounter would be. In reality, they’d only communicate during practice; however, once practice is over, they’re complete strangers and Kageyama would wander off on his own, to class, to lunch, wherever the hell the bastard felt like going. Kindaichi thought Kageyama had other friends outside of volleyball, but he doesn’t. The guy was completely out of reach.

The problem is that Kageyama has no tact whatsoever. He says what he feels without any regards of the people around him, which is probably why he has no friends.

Kindaichi is born tall, and he doesn’t have any powers to defy gravity damnit, so it wasn’t entirely his fault that his jump was a little bit off, that one time during a practice match, and his spike was out by a mere inch. Kageyama, however, would have none of it, and barked out quite rudely, “What the hell was that? That was an easy hit, Kindaichi.”

Man, Kageyama needs to chill, he said, which resulted in more yelling on Kageyama’s behalf, “We’re playing for a spot as a regular, I’m not going to let you pull me down with your lousy spikes.” Aaaand, yeah, that didn’t end well, and they both got benched. Kageyama was scowling the entire time and Kindaichi felt like punching his stupid face so bad. 

He knew then and there that they would never get along well. Kageyama was obsessed with winning and being the best, Kindaichi just enjoys playing something he’s good at. Why does Kageyama have to take things so seriously, it’s just a club, and he’s already annoyingly good at it, and does he have to look so damn excited whenever Oikawa’s in the near vicinity?

Kageyama practically worshipped the ground Oikawa walked on; chasing around after him like a damn puppy with its tail waggling, going all, “Oikawa-san, please teach me how to serve.”

The frustration of not having that kind of reaction from Kageyama made him train harder, not that he’d admit that out loud; he did more muscle training, worked on his receives and spikes, ran more laps. All for that one offhanded comment during practice, “Nice kill.” He had a chest-puffing moment, without the actual chest puffing because he did not want anyone, especially Kageyama, to think that that comment meant a whole lot more than it should.

They settle on an awkward, necessary-because-they-are-officially-teammates relationship. They weren’t particularly chummy with each other, he was more comfortable around Kunimi, because Kunimi’s not a cold hearted bastard, but it was progress. They were both assigned as Middle Blockers, so that meant more time spent practicing together.

Kindaichi made the mistake of envisioning the start of a formidable partnership between him and Kageyama; they’d both be Kitaiichi’s best blockers of the prefecture or some shit. He’d overheard one of the coaches saying Kageyama is best suited to be a setter, and isn’t that just great? He’d get to hit Kageyama’s tosses, and Kageyama would regard him with more respect, instead of just some other useless teammate who’s too slow at hitting his tosses. 

He shouldn’t have entertained such thoughts in the first place; even Kunimi told him to not hold Kageyama to it, when he accidentally let slip some of his thoughts out.

He didn’t want to hate Kageyama, but the guy was so fucking annoying. Just because he’s naturally gifted at volleyball doesn’t mean he could order everyone around; he doesn’t even respect the captain and the coaches. Fucking asshole. And he’s supposed to be a genius, so he should be able to toss properly, instead of doing that super quick one that nobody can actually time their body perfectly well to it to actually hit it. If Kageyama could just realize how his best spikes is when the toss is just that little bit higher so he can jump and hit the ball with the momentum of his body. 

All Kageyama sees is how to win, he doesn’t care one bit about his teammates, and that’s frustrating because he didn’t want to resent the bastard, he really didn’t. When Kageyama got benched, Kindaichi felt relieved, but there was a small part that broke for him. But he realized that he loved playing volleyball more than anything and anyone who isn’t going to help him get better isn’t needed, and Kageyama, Kindaichi realized, was sadly one of them. He’s just not suited for team-play, no matter how talented he is.

After that match, he avoided Kageyama like the plague. Everyone did. Which was just as well, because Kageyama never showed up at practice until they graduated. Kunimi said it feels so much better without Kageyama around, and he felt so too, he even voiced it out, but deep down he really wanted Kageyama to show up. For what, he wasn’t sure exactly. In the end, Kindaichi never had the chance to do anything about what resulted between them. To be honest, he didn’t even know what he’d do if Kageyama did show up.

He applied for Aoba Jousai because Iwaizumi and Oikawa were there, and because he heard from the coach that Kageyama was offered to attend there, but Kageyama never showed up. So that was that. Kageyama went to a different school, and if he joins volleyball, they’re going to be enemies instead of allies, which was something new and foreign to Kindaichi. He’s going to fight together with Oikawa against Kageyama. 

That didn’t seem so bad. He can show Kageyama how much he’s improved in volleyball, that the problem was never him, but Kageyama and his reckless tosses; where Kageyama had failed to pinpoint his best spiking position, Oikawa draws the best out of him. Maybe then, he’d have the pleasure of having Kageyama apologizing to him. Maybe then, he wouldn’t feel so guilty for turning against him, even if it was the right choice.

Karasuno. That’s where Kageyama is; with new teammates and an entirely different group of people altogether. He wonders if Kageyama is doing well there, if his new teammates take well to him, if Kageyama has changed at all from back in junior high. He wonders about it and doesn’t know how to feel about seeing him again after that fallout. 

As it turns out, his default mechanism when it comes to dealing with Kageyama is to taunt him. The words were out of his mouth before he even realized it, but Kageyama didn’t react the way he expected him to. The Kageyama he knew would’ve barked back an insult, not calmly walk away, and he felt just like how he did during the first day of Junior High; unsettled.

The match wasn’t that bad, at first, what with the bumbling orange-haired idiot messing around and being overall lousy as fuck. For a moment there, he’d thought that that was good; with such a lousy play, Kageyama’s definitely going to lose his temper and snap at the idiot. Kindaichi thought the ball to the back of his head would have driven it home, but it didn’t. Kageyama let him off; he let that shrimpy off and he even apologized for tossing too high.

What throws him off completely was the fact that Kageyama was equally the same person and yet he’s changed entirely. Kageyama’s not just playing to win, he’s working together with that lousy shrimpy and that obnoxiously loud baldy, and he seems to be having a lot of fun too. He seems at home.

Well, that backfired pretty fantastically. Here he was, hoping to rub it in Kageyama’s face how better off he was without him, but it turns out to be the other way round. Kageyama’s not only gotten better at volleyball, he’s also gotten better as a person, and Kindaichi hates to admit it, but it’s probably because of the Karasuno guys. He’s found a place where he belongs, and he’s found someone who can hit his seemingly reckless tosses. Somehow, it felt like he’d lost to Kageyama.

A lot of things didn’t happen the way he thought it would. They lost for one thing. And then Kageyama had voluntarily confronted him, wanting to fucking apologize, and it’s just too much. Too much of things not going the way he needs it to because why the fuck did he not get to know this Kageyama.

And that’s just probably it. Maybe, if Kageyama belongs to somewhere else entirely different to where he does, then they were never really meant to be partners at all. That’s fine, because he thought that he suited better with the guys in Seijou.

Then why was it so frustrating to watch Kageyama’s back, walking away, bickering good-naturedly with that shorty. The same shorty that had confirmed that Kageyama was just as arrogant and oppressive, but exclaimed with such confidence that despite his bad attitude, Kageyama’s tosses are the best. The same shrimpy who’s able to trust Kageyama completely and hit his tosses without even looking at the ball. Surely, that has to mean something significant to Kageyama, someone who’s never had a single friend in junior high, probably even during elementary. Surely, Karasuno must mean a whole lot more to Kageyama than Kitaiichi ever did.

At the end of the day, it all comes back to volleyball, huh. He gets to play the way he wants to, with great teammates; even if it means doing it without the one person he wanted to play volleyball with the most.


End file.
